Setting up a space for VR will be very much dependent on which headset you have. The space requirements for the Vive can be much more than that of the Rift. This guide is here to help you determine what you need when setting up for your room of the future.

The Vive can be set up for standing room only, but that’s not what the Vive was built for. If you want the best use out of the Vive you are going to want to set up what has been dubbed roomscale. Roomscale refers to a set up that allows you to walk around your physical play space and have that movement translated into the virtual world. You can scale this play space but is has a minimum requirement of 1.5m x 2m which is pretty sizable. This area has to be clear of furniture and anything else that you might trip over or walk into while in VR.

You also need to set up your lighthouse base stations at diagonal corners of your play space so that they can see each other. There can be nothing ocluding the view of one to the other. In the event that this is not possible there is a sync cable that you can run between them. If you have low ceilings or something hanging from the ceiling in your play space this may be necessary for you, but as that means you will have a wire stretching across your room that you either have to figure out how to hide or else just leave it sitting there messing up the space, going wireless is the best option if at all possible.

There are various options for setting up your Vive base stations. The first, cheapest and easiest option is to use the mounting hardware come in the box and screw your base stations to the wall at the corners of your play space. But if you can’t because there are no walls there, or the walls are concrete, or you just plan on travelling with your Vive a lot and mounting and unmounting the base stations on the wall is both impractical and unappealling then you can mount them on a standard camera tripod. These take up more space, but they are more portable and they will save your walls. I have seen it recommended that you could use 3M Command Adhesive Strips, but I wouldn’t advise that as the base stations are pretty heavy, they vibrate and if you’ve set them up properly, the floor is a long way down should the adhesive let go and your base stations fall to the floor.

A nice, but not necessary touch to add to your play space is a mat that is the same size as your playable area. This is a good way to indicate to others in the household where things should not be placed, as well it will give you some tactile feedback about your play area.

Finally, you’re going to want to show off your Vive once it is set up. That means passing the headset from person to person. The Vive comes with 2 facial foams but even then, it won’t be long until you are strapping a pad to your face that is soaked through with the sweat. To prevent this from happening and increase the life span of your Vive facial foam you can grab a VR Cover. There are several varieties to fit different situations. For comfort we have cotton covers and 18mm Memory Foam replacement pads. For large conference demos or just showing off to your excessvely sweaty friends, we have waterproof covers, which include the 18mm Memory Foam replacement pads.

Head on over to https://vrcover.com/shop to grab your VR Cover for your Vive, Rift or Gear VR.